Combat Healer Ch. 24 (Patreon)

December 25, 2022

NOTE: Merry Christmas!

This chapter is 5,500 words, BUT here in a few weeks, I plan on uploading extra chapters of this story (will still be releasing a normal amount of IDH), so you'll be getting a lot more Combat Healer sometime Jan/Feb. 

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> Cute Monster Girls

> Succubus Haven

<< Chapter 23 | Ch 1 (Book 1) | Ch 15 (Book 2)

- CHAPTER 24: Abandoned -

Several Years Ago

A young elf girl with a gray face, midnight skin, black hair, and slitted crimson eyes, cheerfully dragged the carcass of a ‘Bite-painful-and-burns,’ so that she could feed her master for the next few days, feeling especially happy now that the time was drawing near.

For, she could sense it.

Her master would wake up soon!

And she was so excited!

What would he be like? What kind of things would he say? What kind of things would he think? Oh, and what would his voice be like?

She really wanted to hear his voice.

She’d even had dreams about it, though she wasn’t entirely sure if her dreams were anything close to reality. After all, she’d never heard anyone else’s voice, aside from her own. Thus, since he was a little bigger than her, she wondered if maybe his voice would be bigger too.

Or perhaps deeper.

Either way, she could hardly wait.

And to celebrate, she had come up with a really great idea.

A super great idea!

She recently found a room with glowy things that tasted alright, but that she had discovered an even more interesting use. If she mashed them with rocks, then she could put the glowy stuff on the walls and create glowy images with them.

So what would she do?

She was going to draw master a picture!

One of her and him!

She was so excited!

But first she wanted to clean him up a little.

It had been a while since she last stumbled on a suitable puddle of water, and she’d recently discovered one, so first she would tie master’s naked body on her back with some ‘White-strings-strong’ from the ‘Bite-painful-and-burns,’ and carefully take him to get cleaned up.

Which was exactly what she did.

And she had so much fun doing it!

She loved to clean her master up! And she loved to snuggle with him afterward so that he didn’t get too cold!

Once that was done, she took him back to the room where they first met, since the monsters would never come in there, making it a safe place to leave her master unattended. She then proceeded to skip away as she went off to gather some glowy things for her picture!

Yay! This was going to be so fun!

She couldn’t help but hum along the way.

“Hm, hm, hm! Hm, hm, hm! Hm, hm, hm!” she purred cheerfully. “Te, te, te! Te, te, te! La, la, la! La, la, la! Tee-hee-hee!” she giggled.

Collecting several armfuls of the glowy things, she made her way back, thinking about all the neat things she might try drawing for her master, wondering what he might like to see. She had all sorts of ‘ideas’ floating around in her head, things she’d never actually seen before, including green things with colorful tops, sometimes red, sometimes yellow, sometimes purple, sometimes orange!

Sometimes filling an entire area with their brilliant colors.

She wasn’t sure of the name, but she knew that tiny bugs liked to fly around and land on them.

And then there were other things, sources of light supposedly really high up.

Even higher than the Dungeon ceiling.

She’d never seen them before, but she knew what they looked like!

One was bright and glowy during the day, and the other was bright and sparkly during the night!

Or maybe the sparkles were just in the sky?

She didn’t know, and she didn’t care!

She just wanted to meet her master!

And she just wanted to draw him a neat picture too!

Beginning to hum again as she reached the last hallway to where her master waited for her, she unexpectedly froze solid when she heard a really loud noise.

One that made her scared.

“Master?” she said in confusion, only to drop all the glowy things and run as fast as she could, dread filling her chest as the sound grew even louder. “Master!”

Dashing into the room as fast as she could, she was unexpectedly blinded by an intense light she wasn’t used to, only to focus in alarm as her eyes adjusted, seeing a pair of massive stone doors actively closing, revealing the tiniest sliver of what she knew was a brilliant blue sky and grassy fields in the distance.

And at the bottom of that sliver of sunlight…

She saw a naked young man facing away from her, holding his arm up as if he too was nearly blinded by the light.

Her master.

She didn’t even have time to react before the massive stone doors closed entirely.

And just like that, she was alone.

Dropping to her knees, and then sinking to her rear, she stared at the impenetrable wall as feelings that she didn’t like very much began to hurt her deep within. A pain she’d never felt before, something far worse than being bitten by a ‘Bite-painful-and-burns.’

“M-Master,” she whimpered, her vision growing blurry as her nose filled with wetness, her face uncontrollably contorting in grief as an intense feeling of agony stopped her from breathing for a long few seconds.

Until it escaped violently.

She immediately started sobbing.

“No, no, no, no, no!” she whimpered. “Master, come back! Master, p-please come back! PLEASE!” she cried out, only to sink forward when she realized it wasn’t possible. Not for a long while.

She’d been left behind.

Fifteen years she’d fed him, protected him, taken care of him, all for this day to finally come…

And now he was gone, just like that.

Her master, was gone.

She’d never hear his voice.

Never.

“Master!” she cried out with another sob. “Please,” she then whimpered, knowing he couldn’t hear her. Knowing he would never hear her.

Never.

* * *

After Wren and I got back to the rest of the group, with her clinging on my arm cheerfully the whole way, I was glad to see that everyone seemed to be doing fine, as well as the fact that Muneg and Ruhmul were both minding their manners, and not trying to get with my women. They were also pretty heavily focused on eating, all three of my Oni comrades nearly done with their meal, having picked apart the half-deer basically down to the bones.

Of course, Eliza asked me if everything was alright, considering we’d been gone a while, and I assured her that everything was fine.

Didn’t feel like mentioning right now that I’d ended up getting passionately kissed by Wren, figuring it wasn’t too big of a deal, considering I only let her do it to ‘get it out of her system,’ with the mischievous imp thankfully not trying to push it further than just a really intimate kiss…

Followed by another really intimate kiss that lasted a bit longer than the first.

Honestly, had the top team of my guild not been with us, then I would have told everyone plainly that I checked out Wren’s body, out of curiosity, asking her about her basic needs, and that she kissed me similar to what she’d already done a few times now, but that it stopped at that.

But I really had to be careful what I said in front of Muneg, Ruhmul, and of course Shevra too, for a variety of reasons.

I wanted to keep Wren safe, above all else, knowing I owed her my life, and even despite how strong she was, I felt like the best way to keep her safe was to hide her existence as much as possible. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out once we left the Dungeon, but I figured I’d think of a way.

Honestly, it might mean that I couldn’t stay the night at my Guild anymore, instead always finding other lodging arrangements. It was even possible that Val’s father would be willing to host us, in exchange for a fair amount of coin of course, and Wren would have a lot more freedom to come and go at their farm.

Technically, it was possible that I could risk sneaking her into the Guild, assuming I paid for a room with a window, but I was fairly used to sleeping out in the wilderness anyway, and I was sure Val wouldn’t mind being able to see her family regularly.

Of course, that might mean that Mel, Val, and I truly formed our own team.

It would mean that I had to leave Turg, Dagru, Shel, and even Jackel behind, only seeing them on occasion if we happened to cross paths at the Guild. The idea made me kind of sad, especially if it was possible to work things out by having the brothers respect my claim on Mel and Val.

But that was life, I supposed.

And a small sacrifice to make, in order to keep Wren safe.

Plus, the idea of spending a night in a stable on a bed of fresh straw with my sexy girlfriend and extremely busty betrothed was also a really enticing idea. Especially when it would afford us the opportunity to play around as much as we wanted without interruption, as well as talk about whatever we wanted without eavesdroppers.

Assuming Wren wasn’t counted as either of those things, since I suspected I’d have to get used to her ‘interrupting.’

As I tried to evaluate everyone’s nonverbal body language once I returned with Wren, it became obvious that my absence had another effect as well.

Or rather, that the absence of the elf demon had an effect.

Because there had been a clear reduction in tension among the three larger Oni, a tension that visibly resurfaced when I reappeared with the monster girl in tow.

Val was actually standing further away from everyone else and clearly ready to happily greet me when I walked up, taking it upon herself to hold onto my arm as she asked if I had need for anything, her purple eyes affectionate. I ended up wrapping my arm around her shoulder and giving her a mostly casual hug, partly for the affection, but also partially to verify how firm her tits were, wanting to make sure it wasn’t actually she who needed something from me.

However, Val seemed fine in that area, her tits firm but not yet hard with milk, with me then realizing that there actually was something she needed.

General ‘attention’ from me.

So I gave it to her in the form of keeping my arm around her thin shoulders, a sharp contrast to her otherwise juicy figure, knowing we didn’t have the luxury of wasting any more time, as much as I wanted to take her aside and explore her body as well.

The top team was almost done eating, and we kind of couldn’t afford to spend the night in this Dungeon, not when time clearly wasn’t flowing the same as outside in the rest of the world.

Not to mention, Wren had suddenly become very interested in Val, examining her intently and occasionally poking at her in various spots, as if she was determining how much she personally would like to have Val’s form. Either that, or else she was quite literally teasing me.

Perhaps both.

The busty Holstaur seemed a little uncertain at first, but when I told her not to worry about it, she did exactly that, even when Wren touched her ass – Val just ignored her, and focused on enjoying my embrace, her own skinny arm wrapped around my torso.

Once the meat was fully gone, Eliza took it upon herself to get us moving, asking Wren to tell us how many nests she knew of, and to explain where the nests were located as best she could. And once Wren had tried explaining the various locations, Eliza then wondered if Wren had an idea of the most efficient way to get to each one in the least amount of time possible. Of which, the elf girl wasn’t entirely sure, but made it clear she intended to try.

When asked if there were any we wouldn’t be able to reach, she responded that ‘it was unlikely.’

The reason?

Wren mostly used the upper tunnels, same as the Arakna’cabra, and because she was the top predator in the Dungeon, the Flesh Collectors instinctively had attempted to build and protect their nests as low as possible.

Which worked out perfectly for us.

Or at least, it hopefully would work out perfectly.

Thus, following her lead, we spent the next few hours following Wren as she searched for them.

The hunt was successful.

We managed to find one after another, with Mel ‘carefully’ igniting each one this time with just a fireball, and then running the hell away before the entire room began exploding. As pretty much always happened without fail – the entire room eventually began erupting with booming blasts.

And to top it off, Wren killed the majority of the Arakna’cabra along the way, with us repeatedly coming across freshly slain corpses that had been killed in almost complete silence.

It was enough to cause our three Oni guests to relax a little, seeming both shocked that I really had control over this impossibly powerful beast, and also relieved that they didn’t have to risk their lives against a monster they weren’t really equipped to handle, with even just a single bite from a Flesh Collector normally being an inescapable death.

Although, we did still have to kill a few Arakna’cabra on our own.

However, Mel and Val did most of the killing, showing off their power in the process.

I also wasn’t taking any chances either, having my slingshot at the ready at all times, and shooting every live monster we came across without hesitation.

I knew for a fact that the top team noticed, both what I was doing and the effect it was having, but not a single one asked me about it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to hide my Stun spell in this situation. Not under these conditions, and not when Mel especially was frequently risking her own life, or at least risking getting bitten, whenever she attacked with her scythe.

But then we were finally looking for what was hopefully the last nest, Wren being able to tell based on how the webbing on the walls looked, with all of us having lost sight of the little demon, having no idea where she’d gone.

By this point, it was well after midnight, being nearly the second hour of the early morning, and we were all starting to feel it. Yet, we had to press on, despite the late hour, since staying the night was less than ideal.

I couldn’t help but wonder just how much time had already passed in the outside world.

We entered the dungeon prior to midday, but it was still possible at least a full day had passed for everyone else. Which meant, while it was after midnight for us, it might already be noon the next day outside. Perhaps a bit later in the afternoon even.

And that was assuming time was still only passing at double the rate.

It wasn’t until I heard Wren call out to me mentally that I realized we had a bit of a problem.

‘Master, up here.’

Focusing up higher on the walls, I unexpectedly saw a tiny light from her Light Crystal waving really high up, far too high for any of us to reach. Not when these cliff-like walls were so smooth.

Climbing just wasn’t an option for the rest of us.

“Shit,” I hissed, causing everyone to stop.

“What’s wrong?” Eliza asked seriously.

I simply pointed upward to where Wren was still waving the Light Crystal, knowing she must have taken it off. “Last nest,” I explained simply.

“Dammit,” Astaer hissed. “I could probably scale these walls, but not that high.”

I was sincerely shocked to hear that, but didn’t focus on it long when Mel spoke up.

“I might be able to get that high with my spell,” she commented.

Oh shit, could she?

I focused up there again, trying to remember how high she had gone when I first saw her Rising Phoenix spell.

“Maybe if someone could throw me up there,” she added.

Fuck.

I didn’t like the idea, but we had to get this done.

Thus, I decided to take charge of the situation.

“Muneg, Ruhmul, how high do you think you could throw her?”

Muneg was the one to respond, looking a little bewildered. “High enough to ensure she broke both her legs on the way back down.”

I simply nodded. “She has a spell that lets her fly straight up.” I focused on Mel. “Although, you’ll have to activate it the moment they give you a boost. Otherwise you’ll be back on the ground before it takes its effect.”

Mel nodded confidently, tightening her grip on her staff. “It’s worth a try. If I can’t get high enough, then I should be fine on the way back down either way.”

I frowned at that, wondering if this was really the best solution, suspecting it might be wise to take a moment to fully think this out first. However, Oni were not ones to wait when they thought they had a good idea, prompting both Muneg and Ruhmul to crouch, holding their hands out as they got into position. And without hesitation, Mel immediately stepped into one set of interlaced fingers, and then carefully shifted her weight to step into the other set, her metal staff in hand, only for them to begin counting without hesitation.

“One,” Muneg grumbled.

“Two,” Ruhmul agreed, with Mel immediately tensing her strong legs in preparation.

“Three,” they then both said in unison, thrusting her upward in complete sync, causing her to fly way higher than I was even expecting.

Damn, Oni were ridiculously strong.

“Rising Phoenix!” Mel yelled just after her leather boots left their hands, prompting those twin tongues of flames to whip out of her back, their ability to cause her to ascend beginning to take hold even before she reached the peak of the initial boost.

Only then did I realize the obvious.

Even if this worked, she couldn’t use Rising Phoenix again for almost a full day.

So, how was she going to get back down?

With the situation pretty much already out of my hands at this point, I watched as Mel ascended even higher, finally beginning to slow down just before where Wren was waiting, all of us realizing at the same time that she was going to come just a little bit too short.

Less than a person’s height away!

‘Wren!’ I thought urgently, only to hear her call out to Mel.

“Hold out your staff!” the elf girl yelled.

Mel quickly did so, turning it around to hold onto the base of the bulbous end as she lifted the length above her head, trying to reach as far as she could so that Wren could grab it.

And then she began falling.

All at once, Wren grew out her claws from her fingers, and snapped them shut like crab pincers, just barely grabbing the very end, causing Mel to abruptly slam into the side of the wall, barely hanging on…

Only to be inflicted with an Ailment.

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Melantha Murta’rahg

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STATUS

Race: Re’ju (Red Oni)

Gender: Female

Class: Mage

Focus: Battlemage

Ailments: Fatigue (severe)

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Fuck!

‘Pull her up!’ I urged Wren, with Mel beginning to lose her grip from her severe Fatigue, even as Wren lifted the staff with one arm, the midnight elf abruptly thrusting her own leg up and digging her feet-claws into the stone while thrusting her upper body downward just in time to snag Mel’s rosy wrist with her other hand.

Shit, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest as Wren tugged both Mel’s fatigued body and the staff up into the tunnel, with her getting Mel’s upper torso pulled over the ledge before she stopped, only my girlfriend’s leather-clad butt and thighs visible now.

‘Okay, stop there,’ I added, my mind racing as I tried to think ahead. ‘You have her, right?’

‘Yes, master,’ Wren thought simply.

I focused on Celestine, since she was closest to me, seeing that she looked just as alarmed as I felt.

“Can you hit her with an arrow from here?” I asked seriously.

Her blue eyes focused on me in alarm. “I mean, yes, but…”

“I need you to break off the arrowhead and just use the shaft.”

Her eyes widened at that, suddenly realizing what I must intend to do, considering I’d already told them what I was capable of with my Stun spell. And she was just now realizing I could do more than just imbued that single spell into a pebble.

Without further hesitation, she abruptly pulled her bow off her shoulders and then reached back to grab an arrow, with Astaer closing the gap to snap off the arrowhead for her, the sisters working in almost complete sync as the younger one then notched the projectile.

The moment she was aiming, I reached out to grab it, already activating my spells, knowing this was going to take a painfully long few seconds. And that the spell wouldn’t last nearly as long.

In the meantime, I could hear Mel asking Wren to ‘please’ pull her up the rest of the way, with the little devil only giggling mischievously at her instead.

“Hehe.”

Ignoring them, I focused on the task at hand.

“Be sure not to touch it,” I instructed Celestine, since she was using her index finger to help hold the arrow in place. “Otherwise the spell will work on you instead.”

Her blue eyes widened. “Oh. Shit, okay. Then I’ll need to turn the bow sideways to ensure it goes where I intend.”

I simply responded by carefully adjusting my grip as she readjusted the angle of the weapon, with me switching so that my hand was below the bow now, considering she had to aim so high.

“Almost done,” I then said. “When I tell you, make sure you fire right away.”

“Just be sure you’re not still touching it, lest you send it off course,” she said seriously.

“I won’t…” I then paused. “Almost done…get ready…” I immediately let go once ‘Heal Ailment, Fatigue’ was fully imbued in the arrow. “Now!”

She immediately shot the arrow, with it vanishing so quickly high above that I immediately lost sight of it, only to hear a relieved sound when it undoubtedly hit Mel in the ass.

“Ouch!” she yelled, only to sigh heavily. “Oh, that feels better! Okay I’m good!” she called out to us, only for her ass and legs to disappear as Wren pulled her the rest of the way into the small tunnel.

It was then quiet for a few seconds, with me actually being surprised that no one from the top team had asked what just happened, only for Astaer and Celestine to both burst out laughing, with even Eliza and Sylvia both cracking a smile.

“What?” I exclaimed in shock.

“They’re arguing, and it’s hilarious,” Astaer chuckled. “Mel is scolding her, and the girl is scolding right back. It’s like two kids arguing with each other.”

Alternatively, the three Oni looked disturbed that there was any amusement to be found.

Of course, I had no idea what it would be about specifically, assuming it was possibly the teasing Wren had done by not telling Mel what was going on, but then I could hear Mel’s voice echo loudly down to us.

“Eww, so gross! Ugh, and I have to climb through this, don’t I?! Fuck!” she exclaimed, only to grow quiet for a handful of seconds. “Oh, gross!” she complained. She was quiet yet again. “Hey, stop that! Eww, don’t lick me there! Put that tongue away!”

‘Wren, please be serious,’ I thought in response to that.

‘Sorry master, I was being serious. I was trying to help her get the sticky stuff off.’

I sighed. ‘Okay, well we need to figure out how she’s going to get back down. Is there any Arakna’cabra webbing up there that we can use? It should hold her weight. But we would need a lot of it to create a rope.’

‘I can just carry her down on my back.’

My eyes widened at that. ‘Are you sure? If so, then why couldn’t you just carry her up?’

‘Too dangerous. I am strong enough. The walls not always so much. If I carry her down, it will probably be like slow falling.’

Ah, of course that made sense. If a rock broke lose under both of their weight, then Wren could probably slide down using her claws to slow their fall. Technically, she could probably manage to stop herself and try ascending again, but that would be a very nerve-racking process, and Mel could legitimately run out of Stamina with how high the tunnel was.

Especially since Wren wouldn’t be able to go fast, even if she was strong enough to handle Mel’s weight.

Realizing it was a waiting game now, I focused on everyone else, ensuring that we had at least two people looking in either direction, which Astaer and Celestine were both doing, only for Eliza to speak up when I focused on her.

“Do you have a plan to get her down?” she asked seriously.

I nodded. “Not the best plan, and honestly I should have thought of that before we went through with this plan, but the, umm, monster girl,” I said allusively, since we were trying to hide the fact that I’d ‘named her’ from the top team. “Is planning on bringing her down on her back.”

Eliza focused up at the wall again with a frown. “I suppose it can’t be helped,” she said more to herself, before focusing on the huge Oni men. “Muneg, Ruhmul, please be ready to catch her if she falls. She will still likely become severely injured, even if you do catch her, but at least she should remain alive long enough for Allister to heal her. And heal either of you as well, if the fall breaks your arms.”

“Very well, my Queen,” Muneg responded in his deep voice, with the big red guy nodding in agreement. “And again, it is an honor to dive with you. And to be rescued by the Queen herself, no less.”

“I admit it wasn’t our intention, given the situation, but I am thankful as well, that all of you are safe. And that we were able to reach you in time. None of this would be possible if not for Allister Rosengard.”

Muneg nodded in agreement, focusing down at me but still speaking to her. “Yes, my friend Turg has always spoken highly of him. I think I understand more fully why he has gained such appreciation from his team.”

“Thank you,” I replied politely. “Just please don’t share what you have learned in this Dungeon with anyone else. Not of my taming ability or even of this creature’s existence.”

“And that includes the time issue, as well,” Eliza added. “If it became known that even just one such Dungeon exists, there are many who might refuse to risk it, and that is not something we can afford when this might yet be one of the worst Northern Invasions in a long time.”

While Eliza was finishing her statement, Wren was speaking to me in my head again.

‘There’s a wall of webs covering the entrance. She’s going to burn it so we can see.’

“We understand,” Muneg agreed. “In all my years, I have never been in a Dungeon like this one, and I understand the effect needless fear can have on morale. Besides, losing a couple of weeks is not too bad, though I am sure there are some who might feel different.”

Eliza was about to respond, but she must have been focused on me, because unexpectedly I froze.

‘Not good.’

‘Wren?’ I thought in alarm.

‘Not good, not good!’

I didn’t even have time to say anything before a loud BOOM sounded in the cavern like thunder, all of us urgently looking up just in time to see Wren leap out of the tunnel with Mel appearing to be dragged, her rosy arms and legs wrapping around the little elf girl in midair, only for an even more intense cascade of thunder to explode.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

A plume of fire exploded out of the tunnel with such force that it collided into them and shot them into the wall on the other side, with Mel holding on for dear life as Wren dug her claws in, the two of them rapidly sliding down the wall way too fast – Mel’s weapon nowhere to be seen.

“Watch out!” Eliza immediately yelled, everyone urgently leaping in different directions, with Astaer and Celestine both tackling me, just in time for a dropped midnight staff to unexpectedly stab into the ground like a javelin.

Bulbous end up, nearly a foot of the handle stuck straight into the ground.

Instantly, the weapon activated, except manifesting two orange blades this time, one in either direction like the wings of a massive bird, as orange spikes began manifesting at the top above those blades, only for the cracks in the grounds to start glowing brightly, as if hades itself was about to erupt from the stone.

Almost at the same time, Mel screamed, tugged off of Wren’s back with such force that the elf girl was almost yanked off the wall too, barely managing to hang on, even as my Oni girlfriend began plummeting to the ground, vines of vibrant orange light beginning to encompass her entire body, even clawing underneath her leather clothing.

Holy fuck!

What in the hell was happening?!

I watched helplessly in horror, confident I was about to watch her die, when unexpectedly a beam of orange light erupted upward from the top of the staff, instantly snagging her through the core and stopping her fall midair, her arms and legs hanging backward as she began writhing in distress.

And unexpectedly, with my Eye of the Goddess, I realized two things at the same time.

First, after using her fire magic to kill tens-of-thousands of lesser monsters, by burning several nests of Arakna’cabra eggs, Mel’s Intelligence attribute had just unexpectedly leveled up.

Her stats had just increased, her Intelligence going from Level 8 to Level 9, giving her a permanent 3-point rise to that specific attribute, bringing her Intelligence up from 19 to 22 total…

Exceeding the threshold of 20 described by her ‘Rising Phoenix’ spell’s limitation.

And then…

Second…

Her weapon had just become UNSEALED.

Evolving from Epic grade…

To Legendary.

Mel’s bound weapon…

Was a Legendary Artifact.

Its name changing from Ethereal Scythe…

To ‘JUDGEMENT OF THE PHOENIX.’

And she was now receiving…

ITS BLESSING.

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NEW SKILL: Phoenix Blessing

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NEW SKILL: Fire Element Mastery

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NEW SKILL: Sunlight Absorption

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NEW SKILL: Fire Immunity

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NEW SPELL: Soaring Phoenix

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NEW SPELL: Phoenix Arrow

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NEW SPELL: Phoenix Judgement

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NEW SPELL: ASHES TO ASHES

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“AHHHHH!” Mel cried out, her body writhing as those orange vines began to sink into her flesh, even underneath her leather clothing, restraining her more and more as she struggled against their onslaught, until finally they burned into her body all the way. “AHHHHHHHHH!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs, only to unexpectedly pass out.

Instantly, the ethereal glow on her body dulled to pitch-black, leaving behind a black tattooed pattern on her sides, appearing as if they ran from her neck down the outside of her arms, and then again on the sides of her torso, all the way down her legs.

The vibrant orange beam of light began dimming then, and with it, Mel started to descend slowly, her white hair looking like it was floating upward in an invisible breeze as she floated closer and closer to the ground.

Without hesitation, I leapt up from between Astaer and Celestine’s tall bodies, and ran over to catch her, holding out my arms as the ethereal blades of her scythe blinked out of existence and she settled into my grasp.

I readjusted my stance in response to her weight, her head against my shoulder now, seeing that the midnight vines just barely clawed up her jawline on either side of her face, with her rosy complexion looking like it almost had a slight glow to it as she appeared to rest peacefully in my arms.

It was then completely silent for a long few seconds.

Until finally, Eliza spoke up, sounding completely stunned.

“W-What just happened?” she managed in complete disbelief, not even reacting when Wren unexpectedly dropped to the ground behind her with the grace of a cat, the younger elf’s slitted red eyes wide.

Even she was stunned.

I focused on my beloved as I responded with the truth. “Mel…just received the blessing…” I paused when her purple eyes widened, already realizing what I was going to say. Yet, I said it anyway.

“Of a Legendary Weapon.”

FEEDBACK: Thoughts on this chapter?

1) Did Wren's part make you sad?

I wanted to include that part specifically right after she's been shown to be a) happy and b) bonding with Allie (so that the sadness is mitigated some).

2) Thoughts on what happened with Mel?

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Ratings on Book 1 are especially important, since Book 1 ratings determine whether or not someone will even check out the entire series. Thanks!

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